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Media type:
E-Article
Title:
Paleopathology of Human Tuberculosis and the Potential Role of Climate
Contributor:
Nerlich, Andreas G.;
Lösch, Sandra
imprint:
Hindawi Limited, 2009
Published in:Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Infectious Diseases
Language:
English
DOI:
10.1155/2009/437187
ISSN:
1687-708X;
1687-7098
Origination:
Footnote:
Description:
<jats:p>Both origin and evolution of tuberculosis and its pathogens (<jats:italic>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</jats:italic>complex) are not fully understood. The paleopathological investigation of human remains offers a unique insight into the molecular evolution and spread including correlative data of the environment. The molecular analysis of material from Egypt (3000–500 BC), Sudan (200–600 AD), Hungary (600–1700 AD), Latvia (1200–1600 AD), and South Germany (1400–1800 AD) urprisingly revealed constantly high frequencies of tuberculosis in all different time periods excluding significant environmental influence on tuberculosis spread. The typing of various mycobacteria strains provides evidence for ancestral<jats:italic>M. tuberculosis</jats:italic>strains in Pre- to early Egyptian dynastic material (3500–2650 BC), while typical<jats:italic>M. africanum</jats:italic>signatures were detected in a Middle Kingdom tomb (2050–1650 BC). Samples from the New Kingdom to Late Period (1500–500 BC) indicated modern<jats:italic>M. tuberculosis</jats:italic>strains. No evidence was seen for<jats:italic>M. bovis</jats:italic>in Egyptian material while<jats:italic>M. bovis</jats:italic>signatures were first identified in Siberian biomaterial dating 2000 years before present. These results contraindicates the theory that<jats:italic>M. tuberculosis</jats:italic>evolved from<jats:italic>M. bovis</jats:italic>during early domestication in the region of the “Fertile Crescent,” but supports the scenario that<jats:italic>M. tuberculosis</jats:italic>probably derived from an ancestral progenitor strain. The environmental influence of this evolutionary scenario deserves continuing intense evaluation.</jats:p>